Temperature & Timer

[dfiler2]

I have an old building that is now four apartments, I pay all utilities and provide outdoor plugins for the tenants for when it’s really cold. There are 2-20 amp circuits with a double outlet on each one. I planned to put them on a timer but noticed that people would plug their cars in when it wasn’t necessary, like when it’s a balmy 30 above. I looked for a timer that could also be operated by temperature but couldn’t find one. I’m guessing as soon as I post this someone will point out that you can buy one on Amazon for a buck three eighty,but I couldn’t find one.

I had an Intermatic timer that would have handled one circuit but wasn’t comfortable using it for both. I purchased a temperature control and two relays and a box from Amazon and put together timer/temperature control. I have it set at 15 above and it works great, now people can plug in their cars anytime and if it gets below 15 above the outlets come on, from 4 am to 10 am.

 

[Bert_]

Nice setup. Those little temp controllers are pretty cool, very versatile.

Those solid state relays can generate quite a bit of heat, might be a good idea to check the temp in that box with the circuits heavily loaded.

 

[matt_i]

Very nice job there on the controls

 

[dfiler2]

Nice setup. Those little temp controllers are pretty cool, very versatile.

Those solid state relays can generate quite a bit of heat, might be a good idea to check the temp in that box with the circuits heavily loaded.

I was concerned about the heat too so I bought relays with heat sinks and I left a plug out on the bottom and the top of the box. What I should do is put a wireless tag on it and monitor the heat. These little tags will graph the changes in heat.

wirelesstag.net

 

[sickjuice]

https://www.iplc.com/m210

 

[JD3020]

Nice! We've got 6 diesels with block heaters in my family, we've tried timers in the past but can be a pain since our lives don't have a set schedule. But having them on a thermostat is a great idea.

 

[ard]

https://www.iplc.com/m210

Nice product, but $250 per outlet?!?

https://www.amresupply.com/part/9467562

 

[dfiler2]

Nice! We've got 6 diesels with block heaters in my family, we've tried timers in the past but can be a pain since our lives don't have a set schedule. But having them on a thermostat is a great idea.

Right now everyone works during the day, I have thought about playing around with a Wemo switch I have and control one of the outlets for different times. You can run more on/off periods on the timer also. I owned a 3010 diesel for years, it was a great little tractor.

 

[dfiler2]

Nice product, but $250 per outlet?!?

https://www.amresupply.com/part/9467562

I have about $60 in the parts, not counting the timer, it looks like that particular timer runs about $40. I probably would have looked for a different timer If I didn't already have that one. I think in many cases I think that outlet, even at $250, would pay for itself in cold climates.

 

[couch67]

I like the setup. Payback will take a few years but you are now set to start saving.

A typical car block heater is 3-400 watts, but a truck heater can be more than double that. Say worst case your tenants were plugging in when they get home, and unplugging when they leave for work, that could be 12 hours a day. So in a given month, thats 360 hours.

For the car block heater, thats 360 hrs * 400 watts - or 144 kw-hours. At $0.10 per kw-hour, thats $14.40 per month to run the block heater worst case.

For a large block heater, thats 360 * 1000 = 360 kw-hours, or $36 per month.

Lots of assumptions in the above numbers but yes it could add up quick!

couch